1. Guaranteed Shipping Options

Google owns text-based search, image search, and drives some of the highest intent queries online, so it’s natural for them to go even more vertical in their ecommerce and shopping experiences.

As the Wall Street Journal stated (and at the core of ShipBob’s business thesis), “Alongside life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, you can now add another inalienable right: two-day shipping on practically everything.”

2. Expansion of Google Shopping & Google Express on the SERP

Google Shopping Actions/Google Express will continue to grow, eventually moving from a ‘nice to have’ channel to, table stakes for any well rounded Shopping advertiser’s marketing efforts.

Additionally, while currently purely ‘organic’ in how products are shown now, my prediction is Google will begin monetizing the express.google domain as well as voice search ‘placements’ within the next 12-18 months.

My thought is this will take the form of various ad units similar to Amazon’s marketplace, most likely managed through Google Ads.

This expansion will bode well for the retailers & agencies who can quickly respond to the shift to paid, much like the transition from Froogle, to the paid version of Google Shopping.

By vertically, I mean in thecore of the SERP. They often have multiple Google Shopping ads with images, then user reviews tied to the ads, then regular search ads with multiple site links before you even get an organic listing.

By horizontally, I mean beyond the core of the SERP. For example, below the search bar, you are often prompted to navigate horizontally to the Shopping tab, which has several rows of sponsored ads, then the Images tab, which often has at least one row of sponsored ads.

The “Google tax” is increasing.

3. Bringing More Machine Learning To Google Ads

If 2018 is any indicator of what 2019 may look like, then we can continue to expect more hands-off automated solutions that are performance focused using machine learning for both Search and Shopping.

Google products using machine learning has certainly noticeably improved in 2018 vs 2017. However, even with these improvements advertisers still need to cautiously test these products to ensure full control of their marketing funnel.

For those advertisers that may have their entire bottom funnel advertising strategy covered, Google will make it easier than ever to start targeting qualified users higher in the funnel.

-Ben Whitrock, Senior Retail Search Manager at CPC Strategy

4. More Attribution Capabilities

I expect Google to continue doubling down on attribution and the ability to tie in the impact on running ads at all stages of the funnel.

I also think that YouTube will continue being driven towards taking action to make it more fruitful for advertisers.

-Stephen Kerner, Senior Manager of Retail Search at CPC Strategy

5. First-party Data & Google

First-party data will be the key to success in 2019.

Increasing privacy concerns (and laws) and expectations around customer experience have all but cemented first-party data as king.

With innovative technology like CRM software and CDPs making it easier than ever to use first-party data for Google Search & Shopping ad segmentation and targeting, brands in 2019 will be in a better position than ever to maximize the value of it.

-Anonymous

2019 Facebook Predictions

1. The Continued Rise of the Stories Format

Facebook has already stated that it’s going to make Stories ads unskippable.

If Facebook follows through on this promise, it will be a game changer. Stories performance is already close to that of the Newsfeed, and currently, most Stories ads are skipped.

Brands that are already using Stories organically will be in a good position to capitalize on this whereas those without any Stories content will be scrambling to produce video in portrait format.

2. Facebook Groups Growing In Importance

Facebook Groups During 2016 and 2017 Facebook have made many improvements to Groups functionality and as their popularity grows they’ll now shift their attention to monetization.

The Facebook pixel is due to be rolled out to all groups so for brands we could see a situation where Group membership numbers are more important than business page likes.

It’s also likely that we’ll be given the ability to boost posts so that more Group members see them. Groups could also be added to interest targeting, because Facebook has removed partner categories it needs to rely more on targeting options from within the platform itself.

-Paul Fairbrother, Facebook Ads Expert at AdEspresso

3. Improved Media Buying Automation

To-date, media buyers tend to rely on third-party platforms to automate optimizations, but we’ll likely continue to see more optimization availability and improvement – similar to Campaign Budget Optimization.

-Jenny Broekemeier, Social Marketing Manager at CPC Strategy

4. Increase In Video Placements

Video has been on the rise over the past couple of years and will only continue to dominate in 2019.

Video ads have shown to boost engagement and are a great way for your brand to tell its story.

Increase in paid placement options – in order to continue growing advertising budgets on their platform, we’ll likely begin seeing ads in a variety of new placements such as Instagram Direct, IGTV, Facebook Watch, and more.

I believe a majority of these new placements will be video focused.

-Jenny Broekemeier, Social Marketing Manager at CPC Strategy

5. A Greater Focus on Attribution

Facebook is investing heavily in tools tailored to help advertisers understand performance.

With the attribution tool fully rolling out recently, plus the announcement of Creative Compass and Facebook Consultants, it’s clear Facebook wants to win advertising dollars from SMB’s who may not have access to the same resources as its enterprise advertisers.

-Casey Edwards, Senior Social Marketing Strategist at CPC Strategy

A greater understanding of Facebook advertising’s role in omnni-channel marketing will be important in 2019.

Enhancements to Amazon’s off-Amazon tracking capabilities along with Facebook’s newly released Attribution Tool help advertisers better understand the impact their Facebook ads are having on the overall business.

As the tools continue to develop in 2019 so will our knowledge on how to use the channels best together.

-Savannah Montgomery, Social Marketing Manager at CPC Strategy

6. Improved Creative Resources

Facebook made some strides this year to make creative more customizable within the platform (video templates, easy text/logo overlay additions, etc.).

We’ll likely continue to see this as a large focus in 2019.

Typically, a lack of strong creative is a big barrier, so adding more unique, easy features is a big selling proposition.

-Jenny Broekemeier, Social Marketing Manager at CPC Strategy

What about you, do you have any predictions for what will impact advertisers on Google and Facebook in 2019?

Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!

Related Posts

About the AuthorGreg graduated from CSU Sacramento with a degree in International Relations. After teaching English in Istanbul, he returned to California to pursue writing about tech and digital marketing. See all posts by this author here.

About CPC Strategy | Elite SEM

CPC Strategy is now part of Elite SEM, a performance-driven digital marketing agency. Learn more.